Cimeterre de figurines

La bataille de Pavie.

Le 24 février 1525, se livre aux alentours d’une ville lombarde, Pavie, une bataille décisive pour la domination de l’Italie. La péninsule italienne est convoitée par le roi de France François 1er et l’empereur Charles Quint. 

Les lieux de la bataille se présentent ainsi : deux parcs ceints de murs « le vieux parc » et « le nouveau parc » bordent le nord de Pavie. Dans le premier parc se trouve un petit château, le « Castello Mirabello », bordé par une rivière (la Vernavola) qui traverse les parcs.

Mon diorama montre les troupes de Von Frundsberg franchissant le mur du vieux parc après avoir pratiquées des brêches dans la nuit du 23 au 24 Février 1525.

The Battle of Pavia, (Feb. 24, 1525) is a the decisive military engagement  between Francis I of France and the Habsburg emperor Charles V, in which the French army of 28,000 was virtually annihilated and Francis himself, commanding the French army, was taken prisoner.

The French army had been besieging the city of Pavia, 20 miles (30 kilometres) south of Milan, when the 23,000-man Habsburg army under Fernando Francisco de Avalos, marchese di Pescara, arrived to aid the 6,000-man garrison and lift the siege. The battle began as a night surprise attack by the Habsburg army with limited objectives and developed unexpectedly into a decisive battle. A hasty French attack was on the point of encircling Pescara when 1,500 Spanish arquebusiers opened fire on the rear of the French cavalry and riddled the ranks of the French and their allied Swiss infantry. The French attacks thereafter, made by German and Swiss mercenary infantry, were routed. The Spanish counterattack, supported by the Pavia garrison, which joined in the battle, completely swept the French from the field, destroying Francis’ army as a fighting force in the process.

My display shows the attack leads by Von Frundsberg on the rear of the French cavalry after breaking the wall of the castle park of Mirabello.